USA > Alaska > Our northern domain: Alaska, picturesque, historic and commercial > Part 4
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Coal had been discovered many years before in the southern part of the Kenai peninsula, but only sporadic attempts had been made to make use of it. Owing to the demand for it in California, a company was formed in San Francisco, which, in conjunction with the Russians, undertook to exploit the mines. Machinery was brought around from the Eastern States, but the coal then worked did not meet expectations. The Company's ships supplemented their services by carrying ice from Sitka and Kadiak to San Francisco. At first this enterprise was profitable, the ice bringing as high as $75 a ton.
The outbreak of the Crimean War very much limited the transactions of the Russian-American Company, although it entered into an agree- ment compact of neutrality with the Hudson Bay Company. A few of their ships fell into the hands of the English, the greatest loss being that of the " Sitka," which was just about entering the port of Kam- chatka, after a very successful voyage, but was brought to by a British cruiser and forced to surrender. The war also seriously interfered
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with the operations of the Russo-Finland Whaling Company, which, at the suggestion of the chief manager, had been organized as a means of competing with the American whalers who penetrated Alaskan waters, and even landed on the Aleutian Islands to try out the blubber. These whalers paid no attention to the terms of the treaty forbidding either English or American ships to hunt or fish within three marine leagues of the shore, and the Company offered to defray the expenses of a Russian cruiser stationed on the coast to guard it against such in- truders. When the estimated cost of its equipment and maintenance was reported to the Company, however, they decided that it was out of the question.
The first Russian whaling ship, the " Suomi," was built at Abo in Finland, and was sent out, with a crew of thirty-six men, under a German captain. The whale-boats were imported from New Bedford. Its first voyage resulted in a profit of thirteen thousand rubles; but on its way home from the Hawaiian Islands, it narrowly escaped cap- ture at the hands of the English. Afterwards, it was blockaded at Bremen, and was sold for twenty-one thousand rubles. The second ship, the " Turko," had also a narrow escape. Under still another Ger- man captain, and with a crew of Finlanders, loaded with a cargo of goods for the Russian-American Company, it reached Sitka after a tem- pestuous voyage. Its first catch in Alaskan waters was very profitable. It underwent the famous siege of Petropavlovsk, where the English- French fleet failed to reduce the town; ran the blockade, and arrived safely at Sitka. The third ship, the " Aian," after a fairly successful catch of whales, was herself caught by a British frigate, and burnt.
Meantime, the affairs of the Russian-American Company were going from bad to worse. Looking back at the opportunities that were pre- sented, it seems amazing that with such riches in their hands, the man- agement should have so egregiously failed. But it is in great measure explained by the fact that the people in control lived so far away, while the chiefs sent out, one after another, were not trained in mercantile affairs.
CHAPTER VI.
ALASKA BECOMES UNITED STATES TERRITORY.
T HE Company tried in vain to induce the Imperial Government to relieve it of the expense of maintaining its authority. After the Crimean War, this became a practical impossibility, owing to the vast expenditures that had been wasted in the struggle with France and England. Instead of renewing the Company's charter, the Russian Government, aware that it could not defend Alaska, and never desiring to occupy it, secretly approached the United States Govern- ment with an offer to sell the Russian possessions in America. This was first broached in 1859. In 1861 it was regarded as a certainty at Sitka, but the Civil War was then raging, and nothing was done about it. Had the Hudson Bay Company then seized its opportunity, Alaska would be to-day British territory. The purchase was advocated by San Francisco speculators, especially by the American-Russian Coal and Ice Company, which, being already on the scene, had good reason to expect fat plums as the successor to the Russian-American Company.
In 1865, the Western Union Telegraph Company sent an expedition to Alaska to carry its line up to Bering Strait, where it was to be con. nected with Siberia by a short cable. The project was rendered need- less by the successful laying of the Atlantic cable, but a considerable amount of exploration and surveying was accomplished by such men as Colonel Bulkley of the United States Army, Mr. William H. Dall, and others, whose work contributed much to the knowledge of the country, and doubtless had the preponderating influence toward its ultimate purchase. Robert Kennicutt, who was director of the scientific corps of the expedition, explored the head waters of the Yukon, but
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while he was at Nulato, a place of sinister memories, he died suddenly of heart-failure, superinduced by his exertions on the day before in saving the life of a Russian whose canoe had been caught in the ice. He went out early in the morning, and his friends, alarmed by his long absence, found his body near the river. His open compass, and cal- culations traced in the sand, showed that he had been at work even to the moment of his death. William H. Dall was appointed his suc- cessor, and conducted investigations into the ethnology and topography of Alaska, and his reports have ever since been regarded as standard sources of information.
In March, 1867, just before the adjournment of Congress, William H. Seward, Secretary of State, was engaged in playing a game of whist with members of his family, when he was interrupted by a late call from Baron Stoeckl, the Russian ambassador, who came to announce the arrival of a despatch from Petersburg conveying the Emperor's assent to the cession of Alaska to the United States. The considera- tion was to be " a cash payment of $7,000,000, with an additional $200,000 on condition that the cession should be free and unincumbered by any reservations, privileges, franchises or possessions by any asso- ciated companies, corporate or incorporate, Russian or any other." The game of whist was abandoned; Seward and the Ambassador col- lected their clerks, and before sunrise the treaty was ready for trans- mission to the Senate.
Sumner said: - " The present treaty is a visible step in the occupa- tion of the whole North American Continent; as such it will be recog- nized by the world, and accepted by the American people. But the treaty involves something more. By it we dismiss one more monarch from this continent. One by one, they have retired; first France, then Spain, then France again, and now Russia - all giving way to that absorbing unity which is declared in the national motto, ' E pluribus unum.' "
The treaty, which was adopted by the Senate, in spite of fierce oppo- sition and almost universal ridicule, was signed in the following May.
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The transfer of the sovereignty was attended by interesting formalities. United States troops arrived at Sitka, on the " John L. Stevens," from San Francisco, on the ninth of October, and found there the gunboats " Jamestown " and " Resaca." On the eighteenth, the " Ossipee " arrived, and in the afternoon of the same day, General Jefferson C. Davis, at the head of two hundred and fifty men, marched up to the " kekur," where stood Baranof's stronghold, over which floated the Imperial Eagles of Russia. There he was met by General George Lovell Rousseau, United States Commissioner. and by Prince Mat- sukof, acting chief manager and representative of Russia, with his wife, Captain Peshchurof, and others.
The United States fired the first guns, the Russians the second, and so on in an alternating salute, the echoes reverberating from the sides of Mount Verstovy. As the flag was lowered, the Princess burst into tears, and the Russians felt all the sadness that attends a failing cause. There is a somewhat apocryphal story told that the flag, as if reluctant to leave its proud eminence on the top of a lofty pine-tree staff, en- tangled itself in the halyards. A soldier was hoisted to the flag in a boatswain's chair, hastily rigged, and detaching it, dropped it to the ground, where it was caught on the bayonets of the Russian troops. Then the Stars and Stripes were hoisted to take its place, and again the cannon boomed from the ships in the harbor, this time the Russians leading in the salute. Then Captain Peshchurof, addressing General Rousseau, declared that by the authority of his Majesty, the Emperor of Russia, he transferred to the United States the territory of Alaska. The Americans present gave three rousing cheers, and the transaction was done.
Ivan Petrof says : - " The Princess Matsukof wept at the spectacle, and all nature seemed to keep her company, drenching to the skin all the participants in the ceremony. The native Indians in their canoes witnessed it from a distance, listening stolidly to the booming of can- non, and gazing with indifference upon the descending and ascending flags. Of the nature of the proceedings, they had a faint and imperfect
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conception, but one thing they did realize - that the country they once imagined their own was now being transferred to a strange people, by what must have appeared to them a singular ceremony."
He also gives a lively picture of the first activities of the new pro- prietors : - " A number of business men had accompanied or preceded the commissioners of the two Governments, and the American flag was scarcely floating from the top of the flagstaff before new shops were opened, vacant lots covered with the framework of shanties, and nego- tiations entered into for the purchase of houses, furs, and other prop- erty of the old Russian Company, and in less than a week new stores had been erected, and two tenpin alleys, two drinking saloons, and a restaurant were opened.
" Sitka, the town that for two-thirds of a century had known nothing beyond the dull, unchanging routine of labor, and a scanty supply of necessaries at prices fixed by a corporate body eight or ten thousand miles away, was profoundly startled even by this small ripple of inno- vation. To the new American domain flocked a herd of men of all sorts and conditions - Alaskan pioneers and squatters, and aspirants for political honors and emoluments in the new territory. Before the first sunset gun was fired, preemption stakes dotted the ground, and the air was full of rumors of framing a ' city charter,' creating laws and remunerative offices, and it was not long before an election was held for town officers, at which over 100 votes were polled for nearly as many candidates.
" The Russian population looked with wonder on this new activity. The families of the higher officials, as well as those of the farmer and laboring classes, opened their houses to the newcomers with true Rus- sian hospitality; but, unfortunately, they did not discriminate, treat- ing officers, merchants and soldiers alike, and in many cases their kind- ness was shamefully abused. Robberies and assaults were the order of the day, or rather of the night, until the peaceable inhabitants were compelled to lock their doors at nightfall, not daring to move about until the bugle sounded in the morning. . .
PACK TRAIN IN BOX CANYON, SKAGWAY TRAIL.
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ALASKA BECOMES UNITED STATES TERRITORY.
" The Russian-American Company was allowed two years in which to settle its affairs and to transport all the Russian subjects who wished to return. For this purpose, all its employees distributed throughout the territory were collected at Sitka, and from the time of the transfer to 1869 nearly a thousand were living there; and to these between $40,000 and $50,000 were paid every month as salaries, which, being regularly spent before the next pay-day, made business decidedly brisk. In addition to these Russians, there were two companies of soldiers and a few hundred American and other traders, while a man-of-war and a revenue cutter were always in the harbor, yielding a golden harvest to business men and saloon keepers."
For Alaska, now began a tragic period that lasted for a third of a century, and can hardly be said, even now, to have resolved into an ideal condition of affairs.
The princess of the fairy tale, whose dowry was to be imperial, was utterly neglected by her cruel and heedless foster-mother. Finally, not through any sense of justice or decency, but because of her coming into her own, was something done to clothe her decently and protect her against those who had pillaged her, and were ready to continue their evil practices.
For a few years after the occupation of Alaska by the United States, detachments of the army were stationed at various points, but their duties were not specified by law. Within a month, difficulties arose between the garrison at Sitka and the Indians. A sentry, stationed near the powder-magazine, fired on natives prowling around, and wounded one of them. The next day their chief, in accordance with the Indian custom, demanded a pecuniary compensation from General Davis, who refused it. Thereupon, the chief retired to his village and raised the English flag. Davis threatened to bombard the village, and the Indians accordingly came to terms.
Two years later, in January, 1869, a party of Chilkat Indians were at Sitka. It is said their chief was presented with several bottles of whiskey, which, of course, had its usual effect. It brought about a
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conflict between the Indians and the military. Several of the natives, belonging to three different tribes, were killed. They also demanded payment, and when it was refused, they began to make reprisals - life for life. Two prospectors, who had ventured into the country of the Kekhs, were killed. The report came that the crew of a wrecked schooner had been massacred. General Davis sent the " Saginaw " to avenge the supposed outrage. Three deserted villages were utterly destroyed. It was afterwards learned that the Indians, instead of having perpetrated any cruelty on the shipwrecked sailors, had rescued them and treated them kindly. After this, there were sporadic in- stances of hostility on the part of the Indians, generally caused by the misbehavior of uncontrolled adventurers - especially through the sale of liquor to the natives.
The history of the United States army in Alaska is difficult to disen- tangle. Many writers, undoubtedly influenced by the interested criti- cism of those who came into conflict with its regulations, are inclined to blame the men for all sorts of irregularities. One writer charges the commander-in-chief with having furnished native chiefs with whiskey. William Gouverneur Morris, who was Special Agent of the Treasury Department in 1877, in his report to the Secretary, wrote regarding drunkenness : -
" One of the direct evils of this detestable vice has been the de- bauchery and degradation of the native women by a licentious soldiery. Never particularly noted for an excess of virtue, they have become victims to their appetite for strong drink and inordinate lust, and they have fallen victims to the general contagion and ruin. I am aware this charge will provoke adverse criticism in certain quarters, and it is more particularly attributable to the years immediately succeeding the Russian purchase, with the advent of our troops, than when later garrisoned. But successful contradiction is invited. The facts are too naked to bear the light of investigation."
On the other hand, General A. W. Greely, in his admirable handbook on Alaska, says: -
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ALASKA BECOMES UNITED STATES TERRITORY.
" The activity of the army in carrying out its orders elicited bitter criticism. Reporting on the affairs at the Seal Islands, prior to the lease of the Alaska Commercial Company, it incurred enmity by offi- cially stating that the Pribilof natives were suffering ' enslavement and robbery by an unscrupulous ring of speculators.' As Indian wars gave local traders patronage and contracts, the tendencies to adjust troubles peacefully with the natives were viewed askant as unmilitary and unbusinesslike. To stimulate industry among the natives, it was recommended that Indians be hired to cut wood, which resulted in attacks from interested contractors. The army's insistence that Alaska was an Indian country, where neither firearms nor liquor could be imported, was bitterly fought by traders and politicians before the department, and it was years before the army's point of view was sustained by Congress and the courts .. .
" Finally - happy day for the service, though not for the territory - the army sailed away from Alaska, after, as we are told by a well- known writer, a service not highly creditable. This local judgment was natural, since the business methods of many of the early Alaskan cap- tains of industry did not accord with the army ideals as to probity and propriety.
" The army's sins of omission and commission were not specified, but what it did may be stated. It had brought the Indians into a state of submission and peace - its military duty. Moreover, it had fed the starving, cared for the suffering, and nursed the sick; it had largely suppressed smuggling and illegal trade in arms and liquor; it had discouraged corrupt business methods, and protested against the en- slavement and robbery of natives; it had vainly besought civil govern- ment and open day schools; finally, it had fostered morality by relig- ious teaching of children, established the first Protestant Church in Alaska, and by its initiative, led the Christian people of the United States to extend a helping hand to the native of Alaska. These deeds are not strictly military duties, and while they are extra-legal acts
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without warrant of law, they were justified by the law of emergency, and impelled by the obligation of our higher moral nature."
The withdrawal of the troops from Alaska was recommended by General McDowell, who considered that it was in the interest of ecoll- omy. He felt that the acquisition of such a detached territory was a detriment to the United States; he regarded it as of little value, and he would even have given it away for nothing to any country that would burden itself with its acceptance. Although he acknowledged that the " dozen or more whites and several hundred scrawny half-breeds who were there at the time of the purchase " ought fairly to be protected, he thought that three companies would be sufficient to enforce the authority of the Government, for he did not believe that there was any especial danger to fear from the Indians more than from the whites toward one another.
There was certainly little to fear from the natives as long as they were held in awe by a show of military force, but as soon as the troops were withdrawn, an entirely different condition obtained. Mr. Morris wrote: - " The Russians exercised over the inhabitants of Alaska despotic sway, and held them in absolute subjection. They treated them as brutes, and flogged them unmercifully for theft and petty mis- demeanors. They punished crime promptly with severe corporal chas- tisement or imprisonment, and regarded the Indians as not more than one degree removed from dumb beasts. They held the power of life and death over their subjects. They had over two thousand soldiers, employees, and retainers ready to do the bidding of the supreme local authority. Ships of war were always at hand to bombard the villages into submission. The people were thus completely at the mercy of their rulers.
" When the sale to the United States took place, the forts were garrisoned with federal soldiers, new posts were located and built, and for years the country was under strict military rule. The Indians were taught several severe lessons by the soldiery and the gunboats, and they continued, to all intents and purposes, in their condition of serf-
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ALASKA BECOMES UNITED STATES TERRITORY.
dom until the country was formally abandoned by the War Department, and subsequently transferred to the sole control of the Treasury.
" Suddenly they awoke to the knowledge that they were free men; that as far as outward appearances were concerned, there was no power or authority to interfere with their acts. They saw the outward change of things, and that the pomp and panoply of war had departed. They beheld the white man, Boston man and King George man, black man, yellow man, Chinaman, Indian, Aleut Eskimo, and men of all colors, nationality and nativity, all associating together upon the com- mon terms of sweet republican simplicity. There was no authority at hand to punish the evil doer, no power to redress savage enormities."
Mr. Morris went on to relate the result of an attempt to land some Chinese at Sitka. It is interesting as showing how the natives antici- pated the objection of the whole Pacific coast to such rivalry. He had taken passage on the " California," intending to pay a visit to some distant fisheries. He says : -
" I found on board the whole outfit and paraphernalia of the cannery intended by Mr. Hunter to be established at Sitka. He had some white employees, and eighteen Chinamen, who were hired exclusively to man- ufacture the cans. Upon reaching Sitka, as usual, the whole tribe, more or less, were found congregated on the wharf. As soon as the China- men were descried, a general howl arose, and the wildest excitement was manifested. Before the lines were made fast, runners started for the village, and the whole beach suddenly became in instant commotion. Old and young, lame, halt and blind, all started pell-mell for the ‘ Hea- then Chinese.'
" Annah Hoots, the war chief, made a most inflammatory speech to the young bucks, to the effect that the Chinamen should not be per- mitted to land. Sitka Jack was present as a quiet spectator, seemingly not interested in the proceedings, but I could see he was taking every- thing in, and kept quiet in order to be more respected as the row pro- gressed.
" Annah Hoots could not speak Chinook, so Mr. Keen had to first
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translate my words, and those of Mr. Hunter, into that language, to Jack, who subsequently repeated them to Annah Hoots in his own tongue. This took up much time, but the Indians, instead of calming down, became more and more excited. The situation was critical, and I firmly believe, had the Chinamen landed before a proper understand- ing was had, every man of them would have been ruthlessly murdered, and God only knows, when the sharks had tasted blood, where it would have ended."
It was finally made plain to the Indians, who really were very desir- ous of having the cannery established, that the Chinamen were not there to invade their privileges, that the plan was to buy all the fish of the Indians, that the Chinamen were to be sent away as soon as they had finished making the tin cans. Mr. Morris concludes his story : -
" Mr. Keen very adroitly impressed upon those present the folly of their course, and I am satisfied it was owing a great deal to the tact and judgment displayed by him that we succeeded as well as we did. I had but little to say, only to remind them that the ' man-of-war ' was not far off, lying at Wrangell, and if they wanted a little gunnery prac- tice, they should be speedily entertained.
" After a long powwow, a calm succeeded the storm; good humor as suddenly prevailed as their angry passions had become inflamed, and order reigned in Warsaw.
" In a very short time, as many Indians as could be profitably set to work were hired by Mr. Hunter to discharge his material. The Chinamen landed in perfect security, walked up town, hired a cabin from one of the tribe, purchased wood, and by nightfall were snugly domiciled, with half a dozen dusky klootchmen or squaws squatted on the floor, and enjoying their fish and rice.
" Thus ended what might have proved a very serious affair. But it only goes to show how utterly helpless are the white population when the anger of the natives is aroused."
The very next year, 1878, there being not even a revenue cutter in the harbor of Sitka, the Indians began to behave very insolently. They
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ALASKA BECOMES UNITED STATES TERRITORY.
defaced the graves in the Russian cemetery, pulled down stockades, and committed other outrages. The cause of the trouble is said to have been the refusal of Colonel Ball, collector of customs at Sitka, to pay six thousand blankets as indemnity for the lives of six Kake-se-tee men employed as sealers on the wrecked schooner " San Diego." The chief of the tribe then demanded six white men's lives, and when that also was refused, he prepared to attack the settlement. The Russian women and children were sent to the home of the priest; the Americans were housed in the custom house. The men were armed and prepared to sell their lives dearly. Annah Hoots took the side of the Americans, and went out with some of his clan to meet the attacking party. An engagement took place.
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